Pune Municipal Corporations (PMC) online birth registration system has now been extended to private hospitals here. While newborns at KEM and Sassoon hospitals have been registering online for a month now, the facility is finding takers among hospitals like Jehangir, Deenanath Mangeshkar and Poona hospital also.
Dr D D Chandakkar, deputy health officer, PMC told Newsline that the online registration has saved the citizens from the hassle of waiting in queues for his/her childs birth certificate. To make it even more convenient the hospitals feed in the data of newborns and send it to the PMC who then verify it and post it on its website where it can be downloaded by the click of a mouse.
The PMC had launched its upgraded user friendly website in April wherein citizens could pay their municipal taxes and even download their birth and death certificates online through the PMC website. According to officials the new website is secure and will ensure quick facilitations.
We are in the process of training people in the computerisation department at private hospitals like Jehangir and others so that they can fill the data regarding the birth of their newborn in a prescribed format, said Chandakkar.
C P Thakkar, personnel officer at the Poona Hospital confirmed that the hospital is undergoing training for the process at present. The PMC had approached us and we are taking this ahead step-by-step. After the training is over, we will start feeding in the data to facilitate the online registrations, he said.
The website http://www.punecorporation.org stresses that the success of e-governance depends on the use of information technology in mobilisation of government resources and utilisation of these scarce resources with an aim of providing better service. So apart from the online birth and death certificates, citizens can pay the property tax online and also lodge complaints regarding faulty services. According to the officials, the website has been a voluntary effort by the software companies in the city.
Chandakkar added that he plans to conduct meetings with more hospitals to extend this facility which minimises paper work. We have trained our staff at 14 ward offices, he said adding that the data gets regularly updated.